materials employed in modern cabinet-making
which has yet appeared — and the term " cabinet-
making," we are reminded, covers a much wider
169
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Reviews and Notices
scope nowadays than it did a generation ago. The
authors commence by describing the various tools
used in the craft, and how to use them and keep
them in order; then, step by step, they take
the student through all the constructive processes^
from the making of all sorts of joints to the prepa-
ration, setting out and completion of articles of
furniture, including the application of geometrical
principles, veneering, inlaying and so forth. Crafts-
men of wider experience will also find in the book
a great amount of serviceable information, and
though it is pre-eminently a manual for the actual
worker, both the draughtsman and the designer
will profit by reference to those parts which treat
of principles of construction, styles, &c. The
exhaustive character of the work is shown by the
fact that no less than i,ooo diagrams and measured
drawings are given of details and complete articles,
implements, &c., in addition to numerous photo-
graphs of historic and modem work; over 200
kinds of furniture woods are described and their
characteristics explained. The book is well printed
and strongly bound in cloth, as becomes a work
intended for frequent reference.
William Blake, By Basil de Seltncourt,
(London : Duckworth.) 7^. 6^. net. The com-
plex and baffling personality of William Blake
appears to exercise an irresistible fascination over
the imagination, one critic after another endeavour-
ing with more or less success to define his pecu-
liarities. In Mr. de Selincourt the artist-poet has
found yet another sympathetic and appreciative
exponent who shows great leniency to his strange
vagaries, and sums up what he considers his most
essential characteristics as " childlike trust in good-
ness, spontaneous aspuation after beauty, and
impassioned reverence and awe before the mystery
of the spirit of life." Whether this opinion be
endorsed or not, all will admit that its author
has produced on a very hackneyed subject a book
full of original suggestion that, with its numerous
reproductions of typical drawings, forms a notable
contribution to the literature on Blake.
Highways and Byways in Middlesex, By
Walter Jerrold. With illustrations by Hugh
Thomson. (London: Macmillan.) 6i. — Middle-
sex, the "homeliest of the home counties," as
Mr. Jerrold aptly calls it, never could lay claim
to much natural beauty, and can do so still less
now when such orchards, pastures and other rural
amenities as it possesses, are fast being invaded by
he speculative builder and converted into suburbs.
Still, for its shortcomings in this respect ample
compensation is afforded by its associations with
170
notable personages and great events, and herein,
as the author justly points out, the county can
claim its strongest individuality. Into these old
associations Mr. Jerrold has delved with good
effect, and the result is a volume abounding in
interest. Of the sketches which Mr. Thomson has
contributed — one hundred and twenty odd in
number — we may say that they are among the
best we have seen from his pencil ; the point of
view is always selected with judgment, and
actuality is achieved without any superfluity of
detail.
The Children's Book oj Art By Agnes Ethel
Conway and Sir Martin Conway. (London:
A. & C. Black.) 6j. net — It is somewhat difficult
to determine for exactly what public The Children's
Book of Art is intended. Much of the Preface
from the pen of Sir Martin Conway is, it is true,
written in verses suitable for the nursery, yet it
launches into topics, such as the drawbacks of
photography, that are not likely to be understood
by little people. On the other hand, the text of
Miss Conway makes no attempt at simplification
of language, and assumes throughout a knowledge
of the elements of the subject which young
readers cannot possibly have. If, however, the
title of the book be ignored, it will be realised
that, though its author is not gifted with the rare
power of appealing to a juvenile audience, she has
no little insight into the qualities differentiating the
work of one painter from that of another.
English Furniture and Decoration^ 1680 — 1800.
By G. M. Ellwood. (London : B. T. Batsford.)
25^. net. — Although the furniture of the period
covered by this quarto volume has been made
familiar to everyone by books out of number, it
must at least be said for Mr. EUwood's collection
of examples that the judgment he has shown in
selecting the very best ought to ensure for it the
attention of collectors and connoisseurs. The
illustrations consist of nearly 400 remarkably fine
reproductions of beautiful pieces of furniture
belonging to private collectors, museums, and a
few dealers, and represent some of the choicest
productions of the William and Mary, Queen
Anne, and succeeding periods, those designed by
Chippendale, the B rothers Adam, Hepplewhite,
and Sheraton being of exceptional interest The
brief introduction explains the characteristics of
these periods.
A New History of Painting in Italy, By
J. A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle. Edited
by Edward Hutton. (London: J. M. Dent.)
In three vols. ;^3 the set. Vol. II. The second
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Reviews and Notices
volume of Messrs. Denfs edition of Crowe and
Cavalcaselle's "History of Painting in Italy" well
maintains the high level of excellence of its prede-
cessor, and, with its numerous notes from the able
pen of 'Mr. Edward Hutton, forms a very up-to-
date history of the development of the Siennese
and Florentine schools of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries. With rare impartiality the
editor quotes the opinions even of those critics
from whom he differs, giving the arguments for
and against his own conclusions, and he has
added greatly to the value of the publication by
the care with which he has noted changes of
location of the pictures described in the text. His
remarks on Paolo di Giovanni Fei and Andrea
di Maestro Fredi (who, by the way, is not men-
tioned by the authors of the book) are typical
examples of the thoroughness of his methods
but he is at great pains to give to Mr. Berenson
the credit of the discovery of the latter, and to
refer to the information given concerning him
by Mr. Langton Douglas in the rival edition of
the famous history.
London Passed and Passing, By Hanslip
Fletcher. (London : Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons.)
2 1 J. net. — A true lover of London, and one who
combines with the zeal of the antiquarian for relics of
the past an artist's eye for beauty of form and colour,
Mr. Nicholson, in his Introduction to the drawings
of Mr. Fletcher, has indulged in a panegyric of the
charms of the great city that is worthy of a poet's
pen. " The smoke and vapour," he says, " exhaled
by this strange overgrowth . . . create now the
most gorgeous, now the most delicate effects of at-
mosphere, for smoke and vapour are often a more
subtle medium for the absorption of the sun's
colour rays." He dwells, too, on the added charm
given by time to Wren's churches and pleads
eloquently for the preservation of the few that
remain. Unfortunately, the drawings for which
this charming Essay is the excuse, are with some
exceptions, notably those of Clifford's Inn, some-
what wanting in distinction, but they form an
interesting pictorial record of a number of ancient
buildings that have either been recently pulled
down or are condemned to destruction.
Handbook of Marks on Pottery and Porcelain.
By W. Burton, M.A., and R. L. Hobson, B.A.
(London : Macmillan.) 75. td, net. — Collectors
of pottery and porcelain will be grateful to the
compilers of this little manual for providing them
with a reliable means of verifying the pieces in
their possession, so far as that is possible by refer-
ence to the marks they bear. The lists it contains
are given in tabular form, arranged geographically,
and comprise all the authentic marks — the number
of which of course runs into thousands — on prac-
tically every species of pottery and porcelain which
comes within the purview of the collector — not
only those originating in the various European
countries, including Scandinavia and Russia, but
also American productions, and a comprehensive
list of Oriental marks, the Chinese and Japanese
lists being especially valuable.
Im Herbste des Lebens. Gesammelte Erinner-
ungsblatter von Hans Thoma. (Munich : Siid.
deutsche Monatshefte.) 5 marks, — The high
esteem in which Prof. Thoma is held by his
countrymen, shared by many living in other coun-
tries, has been amply shown by the many manifesta-
tions of sympathy and respect which have marked
the completion of his seventieth year. Throughout
his fruitful career, into which this little volume
of reminiscences gives us a good insight, he has
ever been actuated by the loftiest ideals, and from
the beginning he has pursued those ideals un-
flinchingly, in the face of no small amount of
hostile criticism, such as indeed generally falls to
the lot of men who attain to distinction. He has
arrived at a point when he can look back with
equanimity on the obstacles encountered, and the
absence of all bitterness of feeling towards his
critics is a trait which cannot but increase the
respect in which he is held. The autobiographical
chapters of the book are followed by some essays
on art matters, and also some speeches delivered
in the Upper Chamber of the Baden Legislature,
of which he is a member.
Jacques Callot, Von Hermann Nasse. (Leip-
zig : Klinkhardt & Biermann.) Paper 10 mks.,
cloth I a mks. — This is the initial instalment of a
new series of volumes which Dr. Hermann Voss
is editing, under the title, " Meister der Graphik,"
a series to be devoted, as the title implies, to the
achievements of the master etchers and engravers,
and if future volumes are as well produced as this
one, the success of the series is assured. The
ninety eight examples of Callot's work which are
reproduced in collotype clearly demonstrate his
mastery as an engraver and draughtsman, besides
being of interest from a documentary point of view
as a true reflection of the times in which he lived
— times when warfare was the order • of the day,
and soldiers were ever moving hither and thither.
Callot in recording these movements may, not
without justification, be regarded as a fore-
runner of the "Special Artists" who represent
modem journals at the seat of war.
171
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The Lay Figure
T
HE LAY FIGURE: ON ILLUS-
TRATING BOOKS PROPERLY.
"I HAVE had occasion lately to look
through a large number of illustrated books of
various dates," said the Art Critic, "and, as a
result, I am very much inclined to argue that the
art of illustration has lost of late years a good deal
of its vitality and much of its earlier character."
" How can you say that ? " cried the Art Master.
"Why, personally, I should take exactly the
opposite point of view, that illustration has never
been so flourishing as it is at the present time, and
that never before has it been practised so success-
fully by a host of distinguished artists."
" You mean that never before have there been
so many artists trying to eke out a precarious
existence by drawing in black-and-white," laughed
the Man with the Red Tie. "Most of these
distinguished men have gone in for illustrated work
because they realise that it is useless to go on
painting pictures that they cannot sell."
" That may or may not be their reason for join-
ing the ranks of the illustrators," returned the Art
Master ; "but at any rate it is plainly an advantage
that this particular branch of art should gain so
many new workers of the best professional
standing."
" Not necessarily," broke in the Critic ; " book
illustration, I take it, is not a kind of minor art to
which any type of artist can turn when he likes,
and in which he can expect to be successful as a
matter of course."
"Then you are adopting a standpoint which
neither professional nor public opinion would
accept," replied the Man with the Red Tie.
" Nearly all the artists I know look upon illustrative
work as merely a means of filling up time that
cannot be profitably given to any other kind of
practice. They do not really care for it, but they
think it is fairly easy, and it pays tolerably well, so .
they are quite ready to turn to it when the occasion
arises."
"And that is why I say that illustration has of
late lost both vitality and character," argued the
Critic " When an art comes to be loqked upon
as a sort of refuge for the destitute, when it is
practised in a spirit of expediency rather than con-
viction, when it is unwillingly followed as a kind of
casual employment, it must suffer in dignity and
go down in quality."
" But you forget that there are many artists who
devote themselves entirely to this form of work,"
protested the Art Master. " I have trained several
172
myself who were most anxious to excel as illustra-
tors. Do not men of this type maintain the dignity
of the art ? "
"They do their best, I honestly believe," an-
swered the Critic, " but they cannot— because they
are too few — dominate modem illustration and set
a sane fashion in it. They have only too often
to yield to bad influences and to allow the casual
taint to appear in their own work."
"What do you mean by the casual taint?"
asked the Man with the Red Tie.
" I mean that want of proper connection be-
tween the book and its illustrations which is so
often to be seen in modem publications," said the
Critic. " If you take up a book of the ordinary
kind you will find scattered at random among
the pages of letterpress a few small pictures of
incidents in the story. They do not as a rule add
anything- to the interest of the book or help to
make the story more intelligible: they seem to
have dropped in by accident and they could be
taken out without anyone missing them. They
would fit almost any other story as well as they do
the one with which they happen to be bound up.
I do not call that book illustration ; it is meaning-
less and purposeless, it does no credit to the artist
and is of no assistance to the author. It is only
a concession to a fashion that ought not to be
encouraged."
" What is your altemalive ? " enquired the Art
Master. " What else can be done ? "
"The illustrations can be treated so as to
form an essential part of the book as a whole,"
declared the Critic. " They should be considered
as decorative details of the greatest value, and
should be in the atmosphere of the publication
and directly related to it. The decorations of your
house, if they are rightly planned, have an
inseparable connection with the architecture of the
building, your garden is laid out to enhance the
beauty of the house which it surrounds; why
should not the illustrations in your books be dealt
with in the same manner, to add to the impression
which the author seeks to convey, and to make
the whole production a piece of consistent beauty ?
Of course this would mean that there should
be closer communion between the artist and the
writer than there seems to be in most cases at
present, and that the illustrator would have to be
more a serious designer than a painter of episodes.
But if once the decorative possibiHties of book
illustration were generally realised I think it could
be done, and it would be the right way."
The Lay Figure.
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Reproductions of Colonial Furniture
Courtesy of W. K. Cowan ^ Co.
FRENCH RENAISSANCE UBRARY OR LIVING-ROOM TABLE, MADE IN EITHER SOLID CUBAN MAHOGANY WITH A
FIGURED CROTCHED TOP OR IN SELECTED CIRCASSIAN WALNUT
REPRODUCTIONS OF COLONIAL made in this country and brought over the seas
FURNITURE from the earliest Colonial times to Fulton's day,
has given a new stimulus to the interest in Amer-
The recent exhibition of furniture at ican furniture of earlier periods than the present,
the Metropolitan Museum Hudson- Genuine pieces of old furniture, though still to be
Fulton Exhibition, showing the styles and forms had, are growing continually rarer. The tendency
for some time has
been to deflect the
real relics to the
hands of the collec-
tor. The house-
holder, on the other
hand, has a distinct
interest in the subject
when he is not for-
tunate enough to pos-
sess real heirloom
pieces or even when
his inclinations are
not of the collecting
sort. For this grow-
ing class of persons
the early shapes are
more important than
the actual handicraft
of an early cabinet
maker. Meeting the
demand thus occa-
sioned a number of
Courtesy oi w. K. Cowan fir- Co. manufacturers are
COLONIAL SETTLE, WITH POSTS AFTER OLD NEW ENGLAND FOUR-POSTER BED producing frank TC-
XXXVll
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Reproductions of Colonial Furniture
Courtesy of W. K. Cowan 6* Co.
ENGLISH COLONIAL SECRETARY DESK, WITH PORTABLE TOP
productions. Inquiries made to us from time to time
asking us to recommend such products show that
for house furnishing and decoration the styles of
the Colonial time are popular and satisfactory. We
show in illustration a selected number of pieces
made in historic styles by a house which deserves
commendation for its e£Forts to turn out work which
shall be not only faithful in point of reproducing the
shapes but which shall also show the lasting qual-
ities of good workmanship and sound selected ma-
terial.
Mahogany did not come into general use until
1710-1715, and in that respect is considered his-
torically as a new wood. Its tough qualities and
the beautiful e£Fects obtainable in color commended
it immediately to the maker and the purchaser. In
the eighteenth century this wood played so impor-
tant a part that the period is often named after it.
The new forms which accompanied its use were
well adapted to the working qualities of the wood,
which has, of course, continued popular to the pres-
ent day in English-speaking countries, and which
also is naturally a distinctive work of later repro-
ductions. Thomas
Chippendale set his
stamp upon the
period until a later
reaction against the
solidity of his designs
brought in the Shera-
ton style. Both these
noted cabinetmakers
wrote books on their
craft, a circumstance
which has contribut-
ed to the enduring
characteristics of the
types of furniture
they evolved. Chip-
pendale published his
"Gentlemen and
Cabinet Makers' Di-
rectory" in 1752.
Thomas Sheraton
(1751-1806) publish-
ed in his turn "The
Cabinet Maker and
Upholsterer's Draw-
ing Book." Hepple-
white, at the same
period, issued his
"Cabinetmaker and
Upholsterer's Guide
or Repository of De-
signs for Every Article of Household Furniture."
The characteristic of this later development as dis-
tinguished from the work of the predecessors is a
Courtesy 0} \\\ K. Cowan &" Co.
CHINESE CHIPPENDALE TEA, OR OCCASIONAL, TABLE
xxxvm
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The Greatest Sienese Painter
delicacy, and delicacy, in
fact, pushed to an extreme.
DuncanPhyfewasoneofthe
notable American workmen
who followed the new style.
The extent to which the
tendencies of furniture ma-
king of these earlier periods
were reduced to systematic
record is unusual in any of
the arts and has contribut-
ed to the possibility of just
and faithful reproduction
to-day. But the survival
of a generous quantity of
the furniture itself has, of
course, been even more im-
portant in producing this
result. It is on a careful
study of authentic pieces
that the maker of reproduc-
tions mainly relies.
The highboys of the peri-
od were made with no slight
command of ingenious
cabinet-making technique.
Courtesy of W. K. Cowan &• Co.
QUEEN ANNE SECRETARY DESK
IN SOLID CUBAN MAHOGANY
From ^'French Cathedrals" Copyright, 1909, by tht Century Company
MONT ST. MICHEL BY JOSEPH PEXNELL
XL
THE GREATEST SIENESE PAINTER
An IMPORTANT book by Bemhard
Berenson will be shortly issued by John
Lane Company, under the title "A
Sienese Painter of the Franciscan Legend." This
painter is Sassetta, who, as Mr. Berenson holds,
succeeded where Giotto failed. The author calls
Sassetta "the greatest painter that Siena had be-
tween the dawn and the sunset of its art." The
book is illustrated with twenty-five colo-type plates.
The author finds that Sassetta succeeded in convey-
ing the Franciscan feeling, because of his better
sympathy with its mystic qualities. The instru-
ments at the disposal of European art for the pur-
pose of conveying mystic feeling are, Mr. Berenson
says, "nearly confined to one, and that one — space
composition — little understood and seldom em-
ployed by our artists."
All lovers of travel and good draughtsmanship
are indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Pennell for their col-
laboration on the beautiful book issued by the Cen-
tury Company, "French Cathedrals, Monasteries,
Abbeys and Sacred Sites of France." One hun-
dred and eighty-three pictures by Mr. Pennell are
reproduced, and there are also plans and diagrams.
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Rugs After Oriental Designs
Courtesy of M. J. WhittaU
THE FINEST RUGS OF KERMANSHAH WERE MADE IN THE GOVERNOR'S PALACE
M
ACHINE-WOVEN RUGS
ORIENTAL DESIGNS
AFTER
of the most useful
designs infumitxure,
did not advance
along the lines of
weaving floor cover-
ing, and the rug
makers of the Ori-
ent have never lost
their preeminence.
Persia has always
supplied rugs to the
rest of the world,
from the days when
the Western world
centered about the
Mediterranean t o
the present. The
loom is an aborigi-
nal instrument, and
in its crude and im-
developed types has
found its natural
sphere of perma-
nence in the slowly
moving East. Not that even in the center of the
older rug weaving some of the effects of modem me-
chanical advances have not been visible ; but where
this is the case the action of a tinctxure of the new
wine on the old bottles has not been of the best.
Collectors are careful to discriminate between the
The floor covering is one of the first
and most important elements in any
problem in interior decoration. The material, of
course, in the
usual climate of
our latitudes, is
found in rugs or
carpets, with an
increasing ten-
dency toward the
use of rugs. But
the problem lies in
the selection of
the woven mate-
rial. As in the
case of furniture,
modem design has
made compara-
tively little head-
way in popularity.
In the period to
which preference
reverts, however,
there is an obvious
difference, for our
Colonial times, Cowtesyof M.J.WhiUall
which afford some the shiraz is often called the mecca rug
xu
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Rugs After Oriental Designs
earlier product of
the East and the
later wherever the
later shows itself in-
ferior. Where the
modem Oriental
product measures
up to the earlier
standard it is still
true that the scheme
of its manufacture
has come down
practically unalter-
ed. The weaver of
to-day still follows
the slow and pains-
taking hand pro-
cesses. This results
in maintaining a
high cost, which
puts the genuine
Oriental product
out of the question
in many cases.
The first essen-
tials in floor covering are, of course, utilitarian.
The rug or carpet must be durable, and this
involves good workmanship and the use of good
material. Granted these factors, the problem of
Cowtesy of M. J. WhiUaU
IN THE TABRIZ RUGS THE CENTER MEDALUON IS RICH IN COLOR AND THE
DECORATIVE FLORAL FORMS ARE CHARACTERISTIC
decoration begins. Even a rag carpet, the useful-
ness and appropriateness of which is, of course, de-
cidedly limited, may fit well in a decorative scheme,
and, on the other hand, the best made modem
floor covering may
be an abomina-
tion. The ques-
tion is one of de-
sign, of figure and
color effect, and
has been in recent
times, and to some
extent is still, a
vexatiously diflS-
cult one.
The manufac-
turers, some of
whose mgs in half
a dozen examples
are here reproduc-
ed, have shown
an enlightened re-
gard to artistic
needs and a de-
gree of good sense
that invites com-
mendation by
Courtesy of M, J. WhiUaU their SUCCeSSful
THE SOUMAK RUGS ARE CHARACTERIZED BY THE RUNNING HOOK DESIGN WOrkiug OUt of the
XLII
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Rugs After Oriental Designs
Courtesy of M. J. WhiUaU
IN THE ANTIQUE KIRMAN RUG THE ARTISTIC ARRANGEMENT OF FLOWERS, CYPRESS